Post navigation

Research Photography – Peter Fraser

While sitting in a lecture for sound image and sensory experience we were presented with a number of images by Peter Fraser. These images were used to describe ‘Fine Art’ which is a concept of culture that has really always been confusing for me. Some of the images I could find some sort of meaning with but when presented with the image TWO BLUE BUCKETS., this image seemed to me the final straw in my understanding of fine art and I let out a giggle and didn’t understand how I could take this image seriously. why was it so special? What is the meaning (if any?)

I Was intrigued to find out more about this image and the photographer so decided to take his book, also entitled ‘TWO BLUE BUCKETS’ out of the library. Having looked through the images and studied the accompanying text it became clear that the special element wasn’t just the image but how it was produced, how it worked alongside a series of images and how it broke conventions at the time it was produced.

At the time (1983) most photographers were using black and white. Walker Evans said that “Colour photography is vulgar” Fraser explored the use of colour to highlight the present verses the past and used it to add an extra element to an image. seeing both ‘The blue and the sky’ Rupert Martin Two Blue Buckets.

In this interview Fraser explains of his work with icons as being there fro that moment in time and I think this alongside the curating of the book has helped me to understand how actual process of presenting an image in printed form in great detail is just as much a part of the image as is the subject matter and when creating an image thinking about how its intended look (in this case with colour) can have an impact on the composition.

I’ve decided to use my SISE still image project to try and dip into these concepts and create my own Peter Fraser inspired images.